CFP: [International] Re-Imagining Revolution

Call for Papers for Panels/Publication on â€œRe-Imagining Revolutionâ€

1st Anarchist Studies Network Conference

4th-6th September, 2008 (Confirmed)

Department of Politics, IR, and European Studies, LoughboroughUniversity, UK

What is the meaning of revolution today? From the French Revolutionthrough much of the twentieth century, both the theory and practice ofrevolution was dominated by the assumption that the violent seizure ofstate power was the defining characteristic of revolutionary change. Inrecent years, this assumption has increasingly been called into questionby a wide range of thinkers and activists from across the radicalpolitical spectrum. Yet only a small minority appear to recognise theextent to which recent developments were anticipated by the words anddeeds of certain anarchist revolutionaries over a century ago. As aresult, a rich and diverse corpus of anarchist revolutionary experiencehas been neglected, and its relevance to the contemporary worldoverlooked.

By way of contribution to the process of remedying this historicalamnesia and generating fresh ideas rooted in critical reflection on thepast, we invite paper proposals for a series of Anarchist Studies Networkconference panels on the theme of â€œRe-Imagining Revolutionâ€. Morespecifically, the aim of the panels is to creatively re-imagine theconcept of revolution in ways relevant to the times in which we live,with a particular emphasis on the distinctive contributions andlimitations of anarchism â€" both classical and contemporary â€" and anarchist(ic) variants of contemporary counter-cultural social movements.

While there is no restriction on possible paper topics, proposalsinformed by feminist, anti-racist, ecological, pacifist, utopian,romantic, and non-Western anarchist perspectives are particularlywelcome. So, too, are papers that promise to illuminate the relationshipbetween the â€œpersonalâ€ and the â€œpoliticalâ€ aspects of revolutionarychange; its joyous, witty, sensuous, playful, and aesthetic dimensions;the possibilities for combining revolutionary spontaneity andorganisation; the conception of revolution as a process unfolding overtime rather than a singular cataclysmic event; and the roles of directaction, prefigurative politics, non-violent struggle and organised non-cooperation, countercultural communal experiments and alternativelifestyles, affinity groups and networks, social centres and co-operatives, skill sharing and the practice of mutual aid, utopianimagination, Luddism, and the qualitative transformation of work ingenerating radically open-ended, popular, organic, constructive, andcreative forms of revolutionary change.

Some of the speakers confirmed as of January 2008 include Ruth Kinna,current editor of the journal *Anarchist Studies*; David Graeber, authorof *Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology*; Sasha Roseneil, author of*Common Women, Uncommon Practices: The Queer Feminisms of Greenham*; SaulNewman, author of *From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-Authoritarianism and theDislocation of Power*; and John Jordan, co-editor of *We Are Everywhere:The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism* and co-founder of theClandestine Rebel Insurgent Clown Army.

Selected papers from the conference will be revised for publicationeither in the form of a special journal issue or as an edited volume.

If you are interested in contributing to the panels, please send an emailto Laurence Davis (the convenor, at ldavis_at_oceanfree.net) by 26th March2008 including a paper title, 200-300 word proposal, and contact details.Alternatively, if you wish to propose a complete three-person panel,please send a panel title, brief synopsis of the panel, and names andcontact details of all contributors, indicating after each name whetherparticipation has been confirmed. Informal inquiries about alternativepanel or workshop arrangements are very welcome.

For further information about the conference, see http://www.anarchist-studies-network.org.uk/HomePage.